Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Mazz Swift

Violinist and singer Mazz Swift

Summer approaches, and interviews for my Women In Jazz book project continue. Next up, violinist and singer Mazz Swift, who I first heard awhile back on a recording by the New York-based, internationally renowned collective Burnt Sugar. Swift reappeared on my radar playing strings for my friend singer songwriter Mark Lesseraux on his beautiful cover of the Brian Eno classic "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More." Swift's current musical projects alternately embrace Irish and Celtic influences, Hungarian folk music, the music of 1920s and 1930s American string bands, collective electric jazz funk, and free improvisation. Swift is a native New Yorker, graduate of the High School of the Performing Arts, and attended The Juilliard School of Music. I'm really looking forward to our conversation. There's a lot to talk about!

Many of the up and coming musicians I've interviewed for this project, Nicole Rampersaud, Jean Cook, and Samantha Boshnack, are transcending and inventing their own musical genres. Jazz in the 21st century is embracing an unprecedented number of cultural and historical influences, and the music of Rampersaud, Cook, Boshnack, and most definitely Mazz Swift reflects this.

What exactly is jazz? Considering the definition of that often contentious word is one of the recurring themes in these interviews...

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Women In Jazz

Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is now available for purchase from Amazon.

Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is a book collection of interviews conducted by writer and composer Chris Becker with 37 female musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races and representing nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include Eliane Elias, Terri Lyne Carrington, Anat Cohen, Helen Sung, Diane Schuur, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cheryl Bentyne, Mindi Abair, Connie Crothers, and many other incredible musicians.